Young bird to avoid on the heather (8)
I believe the answer is:
duckling
'young' is the definition.
(I know that duckling is a type of chick)
'avoid on the heather' is the wordplay.
'avoid' becomes 'duck' (duck can mean to avoid).
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'the heather' becomes 'ling' (synonyms).
'duck'+'ling'='DUCKLING'
'bird to' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for duckling that I've seen before include "Young swimming bird" , "little fowl" , "Young waterfowl" , "Young mallard, for instance" , "Young swimmer" .)